Roberts a calming influence for the Novinger Wildcats

Monday

Jun 23, 2014 at 10:15 AM

Paul Halfacre Sports Editor @phalfacre_kde

QUEEN CITY – It was “the” year, last year for Novinger. They had one of the more talented rosters in Class 1. Then they bring in a top talent to lead them as their coach and everything was looking up for the Wildcats.

But everything fell out from under them when an equally talented Meadville ambushed them in the district championship game.

Losing four seniors in Keaton Tade, Justin Klingsmith, Trent Rodman and Blake Smith will not be easy to replace and head coach Rick Roberts knows that.

“It’ll be interesting,” Roberts said. “I think we went from being really athletic to being not as athletic so it’ll be a change for us.”

Having a top flight coach in Roberts at the helm of the program should help the Wildcats go through this period of transition.

During the summer, Roberts got a little sneak peak at what he’s got coming back to him once winter starts. Despite not being as athletic as the team before, this new Wildcat team could still present a lot of problems to the teams around the area.

“I think we’ll be okay,” Roberts said. “We’ll struggle a little bit at first, but by the end of the season we’ll try to be where we need to be.”

Novinger will lean on a pair of Roberts boys on the court as they break in new starters and fresh faces at seemingly all positions. Returning Hadley Roberts down low and Collin Roberts at a guard position will give them a good start, but they will look to other faces to fill the other positions left open.

“We’ve got a couple of freshmen that will have to play and a couple of older guys that will have to step up,” Roberts said.